Some example embodiments of the inventive concepts relate to robots and/or substrate handling apparatuses including the same, and in particular, to vibration damping robots and/or substrate handling apparatuses including the same.
There is an increasing demand for a larger-area substrate in a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal display panel. The larger-area substrate should be safely handled in a fabrication line because the larger-area substrate is more fragile than a smaller-area one. In order to mitigate or prevent a yield drop resulting from breakage of the substrate due to the fragility of the larger-area substrate, a robot is being used to carefully transfer the larger-area substrate.
The robot may include a hand-shaped portion (hereinafter, hand) for supporting a larger-area substrate. When the robot starts to move or stop, such an instantaneous acceleration of the robot may result in vibration of a finger-shaped portion of the hand. In certain cases, such a vibration may continue for several tens of seconds. If the vibration continues even when the larger-area substrate transferred from a first apparatus is accommodated in a second apparatus, the larger-area substrate may undesirably collide with the second apparatus. Accordingly, a completion of the transferring step may be delayed until the amplitude of the vibration is reduced below a specific value, thereby reducing productivity of the fabrication.